Wednesday, May 19, 2010

At the races (Shatin Race Course)

Recently had a rare opportunity to go to the races. Horse racing is very much a part of Hong Kong life and culture. We have races almost three-quarters of the year and they happen every Wednesday and Sunday. Although I don't gamble, it was still exciting to see the horses race against each other and cheer for them.



This was my Mother's/Father's day present to my Dai Gu Ma (dad's older sister) and Dai Gu Jeung (her husband), they always treat me to food, foot massages, presents etc.
left to right: Alex (co-worker), Teresa (friend and now co-worker too), me, Dai Gu Ma, Dai Gu Jeung

My uncle just had heart surgery over the Easter weekend, so now that he's rested for a while, I though this would be a really nice gift for him. He said that he's only been to the races once before and that was 20 years ago!


left: watching for her horse
middle: after the races = REST
right: Hong Kong Jockey Club emblem


We got to go down to the Parade Ring, where the horses are led around in a circle for VIPs and owners to look at their horse before each race. This allows them to see the horse up close so that they can determine which horse to bet on.


No. 7 won race 4, but his jockey won three races that day on a different horse each time! Unfortunately my uncle didn't listen to my aunt and missed placing a bet on No. 7, or else we might have won some money!


middle: don't know if you can see this, but down on the green tracks, the horses are racing towards the finish line!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Rediscovering Hong Kong with visiting friends and family (Part III)

While my relatives were in Beijing, my roommate from Toronto, Tien - who moved back to Vietnam last September, came to Hong Kong for a 4 day vacation. I have to say it was probably a lot more tiring than a vacation is supposed to be, as we squeezed in most of the major attractions of Hong Kong as well as a day trip to Macau and also lots of shopping!

Here are some photos... (photos by Tien Can)


DAY 1 - Wanchai, Admiralty, Central

We walked through a wet market and saw a weird two headed fish..... and at the end of the market, we were lucky to see some fresh egg tarts just out from the oven, they were still piping hot! The bakery lady had an interesting way of transferring the egg tarts from their tin molds. I wonder if the bread slice is a secret to making sure egg tarts taste better... anyways the egg tart was YUMMY!


Then we took a tram to Wanchai, where I brought them to the Computer Centre for a walk around, this place sells anything you need for your computer/laptop. My cousin got an external hard drive and a mouse when she was there. Tien wanted to buy some DIY shops as gifts, so I took her to the toy street just across the road.


left to right: getting off the tram (it costs only HKD $2 per person), Toy Street (N.T., Tien, Tien's friend), shopping!

Wanchai also has a famous shop selling "Gai Dan Zai" the egg waffle balls.... don't know if you get what I mean, but here are the photos...


However, I found that they were a little TOO crispy, usually it's quite difficult to find ones that are not soggy and cold, these ones were definitely fresh, but to me, they were too crispy and the inside was so fluffy it tasted like there was nothing except for the crunchy exterior. But look at the line up for them!

left: from the tram, we saw many buildings that are a part of the Hong Kong skyline, this here is the Lippo Centre and it was designed by an Australian architect, so he designed it to look like koalas climbing a tree. Can you tell?

Then we rode the tram into Central, which is the financial heart of Hong Kong. This is also the area that I work in, and it boasts all the exclusive brand names available in the world! We walked through the building, as many of them are linked by air conditioned pathways, so that we can escape the summer heat and humidity!

above right: outside of Louis Vuitton, looks like ghosts walking past right?

One of the things that Tien wanted to see while she was in Hong Kong was one of the many fly-overs we have in Hong Kong, these are bridges/footpaths that are built over roads so that we don't have to wait for pedestrian lights, and also allows traffic to be less congested. Well Central has many and we walked on some of them to get to the Star Ferry.

middle: HSBC building

We took the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour to Tsim Sha Tsui (TST) on Kowloon Side. In Central, one of the landmark buildings is the IFC (International Finance Centre), it was also in the movie, The Dark Knight.

The sky just so happened to be slightly cloudy, and so it made this photo really amazing, like it was Batman scene.... imagine the bat signal in the sky somewhere in the background...

We just so happened to be at the Pier and waiting for the ferry at 8pm, and the Hong Kong Tourism Board showcases a light show from some of the building on either side of the harbour.




left to right: passengers waiting for the ferry (I thought they looked like they were in prison... hehehe), Tien enjoying the night view, Star Ferry sailor


far right: Clock tower in front of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre - I just found this out after I showed my friends around Hong Kong, but apparently the clock tower marks the area where there used to be a train station, however, the train station was moved to Hung Hom later on, and only the clock tower remains now.

We then walked along the Avenue of Stars (copied the Hollywood Walk of Fame), and we took some photos along the way and with stars like Bruce Lee and Jacky Chan.



End of Day 1

Day 2 - Macau


The morning started off with a thunder storm, rain and lightning, we had to postpone our trip to later on in the day... thankfully the storm only lasted for an hour or so.

For breakfast, we had Shanghainese food.... then we took the bus to the Macau Ferry Terminal. The ferry ride takes about an hour, and we landed in Taipa (not the main island), but this is a good place to land in if you want to avoid the lines at immigration!

Tien, N.T. and her friend had to get visas, and as there were no line ups and the immigration officers were quite nice, this helped us off to a great start!

Macau is the Asian Las Vegas, and so they are building hotels everywhere, they even have a Cotai Strip (a.k.a. The Strip in Vegas). The Venetian is where we got off from the shuttle bus we took from the ferry pier. We also visited the City of Dreams, a new hotel/casino that also includes the Hard Rock Hotel, however they were very unfriendly at the Hard Rock Hotel. We did enjoy a 4D show inside the City of Dreams, if you get a chance to go, it's for free, you just need to go and get tickets.

Next we took the bus to Coloane, yes the place where my cousin and I spent two hours or so blowing bubbles.... we went there especially to try their portuguese egg tarts, as my friend who grew up in Macau told me that these were better than the ones I had with my cousin....

Also this Portuguese egg tart shop was in Goong too!!! :)




There was a slight drizzle for about 10 minutes, but we continued to eat our egg tarts and even walked around and found some nice spots for photos!



left: a dog stuck his head out when we passed by, so cute!
middle: Goong filmed in front of this library ("biblioteca" in Portuguese), unfortunately I couldn't take a photo of how close all the scenes in Goong were, they were all like right next to each other
right: a house with vines growing on it, love the kid running in the photo



We found a red house and took some photos in front of it, and Tien liked the old alleys and temples, however, I wish I wasn't photographed holding all the umbrellas and raincoat... hehehe




left: walking to the Ruins of St. Paul's (Cathedral); right: on the steps (the Ruins of St. Paul's in the back)

Getting a taste of pork jerky (good souvenir to bring back home)

Taking a breather at the top of the stairs, poor tourists, I made them walk non-stop!



left & right: the Ruins of St. Paul's
middle: an alley next to the ruins

St. Paul's Cathedral burned down during a fire, and only the front facade remains, now it's a landmark of Macau and known as Ruins of St. Paul's

Then we went up to the Fort, which is right next to the ruins. The Fort was used as a lookout point when the Dutch tried to invade the Portuguese occupied Macau.




We pretty much forgot about food, except when Tien and her friend went shopping, N.T. and I decided to get food! hahaha... we only planned on getting food for us to try out, so we ended up getting to pork chop buns from two different shops to see which one tasted better, and some friend chicken pieces and a cup of iced green tea. I grabbed 4 straws just in case Tien and her friend wanted a sip, but we ended up sharing everything between the four of us and that was our dinner... now that I think about it, I should have fed my guests a bit more... :P

Well the girls probably had a pretty good time shopping, we ended up leaving Macau around 10:30pm and arrived back at their hotel around midnight.

End of Day 2


Day 3 - Golden Bauhinia Square, Shopping Mongkok, ladies market


Started off our day with one of my FAVOURITE meals - Breakfast!!!! And I love Chinese diner breakfasts!


I got them to try HK style French Toast, a breakfast set (includes eggs however you like them, bun/toast, macaroni in soup, and a drink), I recommended HK style drinks such as iced lemon tea, iced milk tea, iced coffee/milk tea

Then we made our way to the Golden Bauhinia Square, which is located in Wanchai right next to the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre. It's also right next to the harbour and some of you who watch Hong Kong dramas will recognize that they will film some scenes here.




Taking the subway (known as the MTR in HK) to Mongkok - cheap shopping district for both tourists and locals

We made a pit stop at another famous HK drama filming location, Langham Place - a shopping centre with an extremely long and steep escalator


left: walking along
middle: toothbrush holders for sale
right: the crowds in Mongkok, I think I picked one of the busiest days of the week, bad decision





Shopping in ladies market


Tien went crazy in Sasa, a beauty "outlet" chain in Hong Kong. Sasa can be seen EVERYWHERE, it's on every street corner. We stepped in, and Tien saw that they had mini samples of perfumes. She is a mini perfume bottle collector, she LOVES them! This was simply heaven for her! LOL

We spent some time in there, and they got a bunch of these mini perfume bottles (with perfume in them) for a really cheap price. The next day when she was at the airport waiting for her flight, she said she saw mini bottles selling for HKD $130 or so, but at Sasa, most of the mini perfume bottles were selling for around $50-60! What a deal!

There was such a huge pile, even the security guard was amused and helped us out from time to time. :)

End of Day 3


Day 4 - The Peak and shopping at Citygate (HK's outlet centre) and then flight back to Vietnam
Sorry, no photos from that day as I didn't get a chance to copy them from Tien.


*********

After Tien left, Mary, another friend from Toronto was also visiting Hong Kong and I brought her to similar places. It was fun showing them around Hong Kong as I was a bit more experienced by now and had a better idea of the routes to take and also what things to point out to them. They made a trip to Macau by themselves and probably found out even more stuff, wish I could have gone to learn more! :)

I have to say thanks to all my friends for visiting Hong Kong, not only did I get a chance to see you all, but you gave me the opportunity to get to know my Home again. I learned to see the beauty of this city through your eyes.

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